Darryl Stillwell’s bird feeders don’t look like bird feeders. They look like miniature buildings. When I saw his booth at the Townsend Fall Heritage Festival, I was impressed by Darryl’s general store, farmhouse and church among others. He said some of his custom-made creations are modeled after the customer’s home or business.
Stillwell uses recycled wood to give the bird feeders an authentic appearance. WBIR did a story on Darryl in January. In it, he mentioned that only invited vendors get to sell their wares at the Townsend Fall Heritage Festival. Obviously he made the cut.
Darryl told me that many of his customers never put their bird feeders outside. As a result, he began selling them with inserts to hide the area where the bird seed would be. It might be for the best. An academic study in Canada concluded that homes with bird feeders have a higher rate of fatal bird-into-window collisions.
